Friday’s tough test was of the truly grueling kind. The riders tackled two uncategorized climbs in addition to one first-category climb. The stage of 144.6 kilometers went from Embrun to the top of Isola 2000.
Before the stage, Slovenian Pogacar had a lead of 3.11 minutes over Danish Jonas Vingegaard in second place in the overall standings.
The victory was the UAE rider’s fourth in this year’s edition. Previously, he had eleven stage wins in the three-week race.
Uno-X riders Jonas Abrahamsen and Magnus Cort were part of a large breakaway of 22 riders that got away quite early in the stage.
Abrahamsen stated before the start that he wanted to go on the attack to strengthen his application to be named the race’s most aggressive rider.
– I have been aggressive up until now, and there is a prize in Nice that I would really love to have. I have the most kilometers in breakaways in the entire Tour de France. If I manage to get into a break today as well, it looks more promising for getting that prize, Abrahamsen told TV 2.
In addition to the two Uno-X profiles, stars like Matteo Jorgenson, Michal Kwiatkowski, Valentin Madouas, Neilson Powless, and Oier Lazkano were also in the breakaway.
Dropped Out
On the way into the first uncategorized climb Col de Vars, the breakaway had a gap of just under a minute to the peloton, but a number of attacks both in front and from behind broke up the breakaway. Abrahamsen dropped out early, while Cort had to give up about halfway to the top.
On Col de Vars, the breakaway had been reduced to nine riders, who established a gap of 4.5 minutes heading into Cime de la Bonette. However, the peloton managed to close in by just over a minute up the challenging climb.
The summit is one of the highest paved roads in Europe and the highest peak ever crossed in a Grand Tour race. The highest point the riders reached was 2802 meters above sea level.
Outclassed the Competitors
As they approached the finish at Isola 2000, there was a real battle among the leading riders, where Matteo Jorgenson broke away with 13 kilometers remaining to the top.
Just under five kilometers later, Pogacar picked up the pace at the back of the peloton and surged ahead of everyone. The Slovenian took no more than six kilometers to catch up with the American, who had a lead of 2.5 minutes.
Pogacar left Jorgenson no chance to take a victory and zipped past as soon as he had the opportunity.
(©NTB)